Remove ads

Who Needs Harmony?: An MLP Empire Quest

Reader mode
Gaius Tyrannus said:
I'm kinda genuinely curious, for those who want to pay as to why? Not trying to be rude, just interested.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Nothing mysterious, just cost benefit like usual.

Like, I prefer our citizens be alive instead of dead. If we don't buy them they will suffer as slaves and most probably perish. (The talk about the intelligence service carrying out dozens of rescue operations against nobility in a foreign country at the same time is nonsense. No one has ever done anything remotely like that.)

I usually use the following 4 gates for starting wars in quests.
1. We have an objective that we can't get in a less horrific way
2. We are likely to win.
3. We have prepared as well as we possibly can.
4. Things are not getting better, such that we need a dramatic turnaround.

In our case we are 0 for four.
1. We can buy back the existing slaves and work with our allies to stop the piracy.
2. The notion that we can keep fighting immediately after fighting Sombra twice and then all our kingdom's beasts, while our economy rebuilds a nation that is...uh...ambitious I guess. Smacks of 'we'll be welcomed as liberators' to me.
3. There are many more preparations to make (work with abolitionists, make maps, learn about their sorcery...).
4. In a few years our military will be fresher and the Crystal Empire will go from a weight on our neck to a mighty ally.

I understand the appeal of Burden, and I'm not underestimating that particular factor. It will no doubt win, but I believe it is the worse choice for the citizens who were taken, and the worse choice for the future of the region.
 
[X] Bear Any Burden

How about those spies that learned all that information about the slave owners? Are they in good positions? Can we coordinate assassinations of nobles and cooperation with anti-slavery faction in secret all while stalling the nobles with them? Set them up for the killing blow behind their backs

What about poisoning their magic users with orichalcum? Deposits of the stuff made a yak valley "cursed", with the strategic placement of the stuff we could maybe cripple them. What effect does shavings of orichalcum in drinking water have?

We could make the nobles fight among themselves, start a civil war to weaken them.

So many possibilities.
 
Zavvnao said:
Or thousands if you consider that they might "encorage" a lot of offspring. And I wonder if gryphon slaves have clipped wings like a parrots, or if magic keeps them from escaping while still having flight.

And then consider how qilin are long-lived, slow-breeding, part dragon, and have unique magic. They'd be worth a small estate on their own.

As a side note, how long have they had qilin slaves? There might be a few hundred if boats from Neighpon got lost decades or centuries ago.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You forget that the world got jumbled thanks to Discord, so the earliest that Maretonia could have gotten Qilin slaves from Neighpon is about 20 years ago. We don't know when Sombra rose, so there's a fairly good chance that if they had Crystal Ponies slaves they were either from when the Crystal Empire was a sovereign nation, or when Sombra was rising to power. Now this isn't to say the Qilin came from elsewhere, but Qilin from Neighpon? 20 years, it's barely been a generation since Discord left.
 
Shadow-86 said:
So what should we do with the Ambassador in order to show that we mean business?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Nothing? That would be a terrible idea?

Like, even if we do end up going to war, and we somehow win, we'd like them to surrender at some point, right? Meaning someone will need to believe that they can walk up to us and speak and not be mistreated?
 
Walter said:
Nothing mysterious, just cost benefit like usual.

Like, I prefer our citizens be alive instead of dead. If we don't buy them they will suffer as slaves and most probably perish. (The talk about the intelligence service carrying out dozens of rescue operations against nobility in a foreign country at the same time is nonsense. No one has ever done anything remotely like that.)

I usually use the following 4 gates for starting wars in quests.
1. We have an objective that we can't get in a less horrific way
2. We are likely to win.
3. We have prepared as well as we possibly can.
4. Things are not getting better, such that we need a dramatic turnaround.

In our case we are 0 for four.
1. We can buy back the existing slaves and work with our allies to stop the piracy.
2. The notion that we can keep fighting immediately after fighting Sombra twice and then all our kingdom's beasts, while our economy rebuilds a nation that is...uh...ambitious I guess. Smacks of 'we'll be welcomed as liberators' to me.
3. There are many more preparations to make (work with abolitionists, make maps, learn about their sorcery...).
4. In a few years our military will be fresher and the Crystal Empire will go from a weight on our neck to a mighty ally.

I understand the appeal of Burden, and I'm not underestimating that particular factor. It will no doubt win, but I believe it is the worse choice for the citizens who were taken, and the worse choice for the future of the region.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The only thing I can really say is that the burden option is not an immediate declaration of war either. Mainly a refusal on principal. It may lead to war, but not immediately.
 
Firebringer2077 said:
You forget that the world got jumbled thanks to Discord, so the earliest that Maretonia could have gotten Qilin slaves from Neighpon is about 20 years ago. We don't know when Sombra rose, so there's a fairly good chance that if they had Crystal Ponies slaves they were either from when the Crystal Empire was a sovereign nation, or when Sombra was rising to power. Now this isn't to say the Qilin came from elsewhere, but Qilin from Neighpon? 20 years, it's barely been a generation since Discord left.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I understand. I know the world was jumbled. But was that for centuries? The other nations seem to have no idea of each other, so this jumbled world could easily have , depending on how long it has been like that, ships getting swept to parts unknown.

But this was just idle speculation on my part. Not much effort or theory in it.
 
hmmm.. I almost want to pay.. with some conditions attached.

make it very clear this is only a one time deal, and we are only agreeing due to … cultural difference between our politys. this is a simple misunderstanding, and nobles simply did not know better.
But make if completely and Explicity clear that if any of our citizens are to turn up as slaves in their empire again, we will be retriving them by and necessary force and will not be paying for any of them, as they WILL know better beyond this point.
We are willing to forgive ignorance. We are not willing to forgive those that know better.

basicly we pay, but make it VERY clear that we will not pay again EVER. That now that they know of us, we will declare war on them next time this happens to get our citizens back. And go through with it. or at least next intendent we show up with our fleet of new cannon ships to retrieve our citizens.

meh..
[X] Bear Any Burden​
 
Last edited:
We don't have to go to war now, we can make a show of sending other diplomats while our spies get to work, let's be smug too
 
[X] Pay Any Cost​

We will accept their bullshit for now, and when the time is right we will end them. I agree with those saying we do a Caesar.
Adhoc vote count started by Dr.Degenerate on Jun 8, 2019 at 12:05 AM, finished with 171 posts and 76 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Walter said:
Nothing mysterious, just cost benefit like usual.

Like, I prefer our citizens be alive instead of dead. If we don't buy them they will suffer as slaves and most probably perish. (The talk about the intelligence service carrying out dozens of rescue operations against nobility in a foreign country at the same time is nonsense. No one has ever done anything remotely like that.)

I usually use the following 4 gates for starting wars in quests.
1. We have an objective that we can't get in a less horrific way
2. We are likely to win.
3. We have prepared as well as we possibly can.
4. Things are not getting better, such that we need a dramatic turnaround.

In our case we are 0 for four.
1. We can buy back the existing slaves and work with our allies to stop the piracy.
2. The notion that we can keep fighting immediately after fighting Sombra twice and then all our kingdom's beasts, while our economy rebuilds a nation that is...uh...ambitious I guess. Smacks of 'we'll be welcomed as liberators' to me.
3. There are many more preparations to make (work with abolitionists, make maps, learn about their sorcery...).
4. In a few years our military will be fresher and the Crystal Empire will go from a weight on our neck to a mighty ally.

I understand the appeal of Burden, and I'm not underestimating that particular factor. It will no doubt win, but I believe it is the worse choice for the citizens who were taken, and the worse choice for the future of the region.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I would agree if not for one fact:

Paying Slavers will not solve anything. They don't want this deal. They could kill our people before they make it home. They could enslave more while we prepare for war Via libertalia.
We can not afford to be afraid to commit.
 
Gaius Tyrannus said:
I would agree if not for one fact:

Paying Slavers will not solve anything. They don't want this deal. They could kill our people before they make it home. They could enslave more while we prepare for war Via libertalia.
We can not afford to be afraid to commit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly, using griffonian currency acquired through a deal to free our people to pay slavers to acquire more griffons is frankly insulting and disgusting to me. So add that to the list of reasons I don't want to pay them.
 
[X] Bear Any Burden

I dont know if anyone noticed, but we are not getting back any of the Neighpon citizens. Any option not this one is going to worsen our relations with those who surrounds us. This is the -90 pts hit to our relationship with either Maretonia or our allies. Frankly I dont care for Maretonia we got our own citizens and friends to watch out for, destabilizing their whole country with war Im perfectly ok with.
 
So for military goals against Maretona it seems like the best bet would to build a second defensive line on the boarder between them and the crystal empire and then just hold tight as our spies do their job.

I mean they look like they're already falling apart a little with the nobles trying to de-power the queen so with a little work here and there I'm sure our spies could try and crank that into a full born civil war. Our spies could also work with the slave resistance to get both our people and other slaves in general out to cripple their industry. Our army on the other hand is probably going to be more focus on taking down the pirates and if we can take them out quick(ish) we can use the land as a base of operations for our navy and as a jumping off point to invade Maretona by sea should things brake out into a war meaning they'd have to spread their small army out even more to try and cover all their bases. Plus it would be a good show of strength to put a little more presure on them to let them know we aren't just some pushover upstarts.

But yeah, in short spies work Maretona to try and have it collapse from within while our army works with Neighpon to take out the pirates and get ourselves some more land while we're at it.
 
[X] Bear Any Burden

No, we do not pay coin for the freedom that should be unconditional for all people. We do not REWARD rich bastards for keeping our people in chains and showing them off like prize animals. We do not feed into a repugnant system, ever, not even for a good cause.

We tell this ambassador that we do not ask, but DEMAND the return of our people wrongfully taken and now wrongfully held without our or their consent. We death-glare him and put the fear of Celestia in his soul, and say this is not negotiable.
 
x0Nothing0x said:
So for military goals against Maretona it seems like the best bet would to build a second defensive line on the boarder between them and the crystal empire and then just hold tight as our spies do their job.

I mean they look like they're already falling apart a little with the nobles trying to de-power the queen so with a little work here and there I'm sure our spies could try and crank that into a full born civil war. Our spies could also work with the slave resistance to get both our people and other slaves in general out to cripple their industry. Our army on the other hand is probably going to be more focus on taking down the pirates and if we can take them out quick(ish) we can use the land as a base of operations for our navy and as a jumping off point to invade Maretona by sea should things brake out into a war meaning they'd have to spread their small army out even more to try and cover all their bases. Plus it would be a good show of strength to put a little more presure on them to let them know we aren't just some pushover upstarts.

But yeah, in short spies work Maretona to try and have it collapse from within while our army works with Neighpon to take out the pirates and get ourselves some more land while we're at it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Instead of all out war, we're going full SECRET WAR.

As for land grabs... don't really think we need all that much more land if we do manage to get to war. passing off most of it to neighpon would be fine. The pirate island is all theirs really. if land does come out of our slave holding neighbors, we could probably just take a bit off the border and pass the rest to neighpon. they sorely need some space.
 
I know we're "not ready", I know starting another war right after the previous one is unfeasible at best, but

[X] Bear Any Burden

war it is! Even the queen is a whore of a pon (if we want to be generous and non-insulting). Lying to our face, denying our people, conquering and enslaving others, this isn't a country, it's cancer! And we should burn it till ash become glass! Then people like Ambrosia can finally deal with this clusterfuck. ("no offense Ambrosia, but most of your country must be cleansed. One way or another")

fictionfan said:
No ambassadors are sacred. Doing anything like that is a terrible terrible idea.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly, that is not an ambassador. It's the worst traits of Blueblood, Arrogance, Disgust, and Feces rolled in one.
Ok, ok no horn breaking (he needs it) but it "pass through the Crystal City" is "right move".


Besides any slave country NEEDS new meat without which they will suffer in all sectors. I mean they expanded by enslaving other minor countries! They fund Libertalia for god's sake! Without a constant influx of new slaves, they will resort to enslaving theitr own people which will give Ambrosia's movement more power and "legitimacy" especially if the nobility are shite like that.
 
[X] Bear Any Burden

This should go without saying, legitimizing their slavery casts us in a bad light. Furthermore, this probably doesn't start the war right away.
That said, here's my plan for starting the war right away.

Remove this fool's head, send it back with fabricated evidence of a treason plot against the queen by the nobles. Our aim here is to spark a civil war to pave the way for an invasion and hopefully keep the violence contained to Maretonia. If she buys it, support the royalists with arms, gold, and intel while building up our strength, then sail over with our own force to sweep up the opposition. Maybe send the Neighponese navy after Pirate Island and let them keep it for themselves. Once we've won, either demand concessions to keep them weak and compliant, or double cross the queen and set up another protectorate under a puppet-ruler.
 
Don't these idiots realize that war is the most common way that monarchs centerline control? If they want to keep the queen weak a war should be the last thing they want.
 
Gaius Tyrannus said:
I understand, but it begs the question, regardless of whether or not we do this
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I am more than aware that both options do not address the idea that our citizens may be enslaved in the future. I am simply of the opinion that in either route we will do everything we can to prevent further slave raids.

You may note that I haven't actually voted.

Personally, I see either route as equally viable and each will require strong play to achieve our objectives.

Whichever route wins is whichever route wins.

In the end, Maretonia as it currently stands will forever be changed.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top